UK-based physically-settled Bitcoin futures platform CoinFLEX has announced the addition of two high-profile blockchain investment firms Digital Currency Group and PolyChain Capitalto its investor consortium. The two investors join the already stellar pool of investors that have vouched for the platform including Trading Technologies, Roger ‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Ver, Mike Komaransky, and Dragonfly Capital Partners. The amount of investment made to the platform is not revealed as of yet.

“We believe that Mark [Lamb] and his team have identified a gap in the fragmented landscape of cryptocurrency exchanges. As a physically-settled futures exchange, CoinFLEX will be well positioned to capture significant order flow from speculators, institutional traders, and Proof of Work miners seeking to hedge against crypto price volatility and hash rate volatility.”

Commenting for the DCG Group was Travis Scher, the VP of Investments at Digital Currency Group. He said that:

“the development of a robust digital currency futures market is critical to the long-term sustainability of the asset class.”

Scher is bullish about the future of crypto futures and believes that CoinFLEX has a team that will be able to deliver on the promises of liquidity and a robust crypto futures platform. He added that:

“Mark and his team have built a strong model for CoinFLEX, and we believe this new exchange will successfully increase liquidity and market participation.”

CoinFLEX also takes the opportunity to announce the launch of the FLEX Coin, a native token for use exclusively on the CoinFLEX platform to “encourage liquidity and reward members who trade on the platform.”

As explained by Mark Lamb, “With FLEX Coin we want to reward early traders of the platform and build loyalty using a shared exchange coin.” It’s clearly smooth sailing going forward with the addition of the latest investors to the CoinFLEX board.

According to Mark, CoinFLEX has “a growing set of high profile backers, a clear roadmap for delivery and are moving closer to our goal of helping crypto futures trading achieve its full potential.”

CoinFLEX is a direct competitor to Intercontinental Exchange backed Bakkt Bitcoin futures platform that is yet to launch. Both platforms will be offering physically backed Bitcoin futures (with the possibility to add other digital assets in the future).

‘Physically-backed’ means that once the contracts expire, the exchange settles them by paying the traders with real cryptocurrency as opposed to the ordinary futures platforms such as CBOE and CME both of which offered fiat-settled Bitcoin futures.

Bakkt is expected to launch later this year once the company gets a go-ahead from US’s Commodities and Futures Exchange Commission.